A major organizational project for our home in 2012 is the garage. The fact that we live in Boston and have a garage – let along a two-car garage – is an anomaly and a luxury. It’s also a the primary storage facility in our home since we don’t have an attic or basement.
Since we moved to our home in the fall of 2008, we’ve accumulated a lot of stuff. Last spring we eliminated a lot of junk by having a yard sale with a neighbor, but some of it remains. The biggest obstacles to organizing our garage are an old queen-size bedroom set and ancient speakers that need to be craigstlisted. Once those pieces are outta there, there will be a lot more room for organizing what’s left.
My first attempt at garage organization a few years ago (before the furniture got dumped there) went reasonably well. I sorted all of our tools, paint supplies, gardening stuff, and sporting equipment into piles and then into temporary labeled storage containers:
Truth: This doesn’t look nearly as neat now!
We then added a Rubbermaid Fast Track system from Home Depot to the wall next to my car where the walkway is very tight:
Truth: There’s a lot more crap along this wall now!
Although it may be a while until the furniture sells, in the meantime I’m doing as much as I can to corral all the bits and pieces that escaped the open storage boxes and bins. To start, I bought some plastic boxes just like the ones in this inspiration photo, and spent a few minutes this weekend creating dedicated boxes for paint brushes and rollers, other painting supplies like edgers and roller handles, sandpaper, and safety supplies like goggles, masks, and gloves. The boxes don’t have pretty labels yet, but they will!
Source: iheartorganizing.blogspot.com via Laura@JourneyChic on Pinterest
Once the old furniture is gone and more space opens up, I’d like to use our old kitchen table as a workbench. Wouldn’t it be great to have a dedicated project space like this one?
Source: bhg.com via Laura@JourneyChic on Pinterest
As our family grows (no, it’s not growing yet) we’ll need some super creative storage solutions. The ceiling is an oft-overlooked surface, but this amazing system shows how it’s possible to make the most of your ceiling with boxes that conceal clutter. The catch: you have to move your car – or climb on it – to access the boxes!
Source: familyhandyman.com via Laura@JourneyChic on Pinterest
Is it weird that the thought of organizing my garage makes me a little giddy? It would be wonderful to not run around to three different parts of the house looking for a hammer!
What’s your biggest organizational challenge this year?
I get a little overly excited when I get something organized-you are completely sane. In our old house the previous owners had built in the basement an area nearly identical to the one you showed with the workbench. It had peg boards surrounding it and drawers on one side. I really miss it. I think you’ll be very happy if you go with that idea. It’s really nice for spreading out projects that you don’t want little hands to get at too.
My biggest organizational challenge this year…probably redoing Little Dude’s room from a nursery into an actual little dude’s room. I am not currently using his closet space properly, and I will have to in order to redo the room!